


Claw Marks

by afteriwake



Series: Sex And Other Things [1]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: Aiden Dresses Up, Alive Aiden, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Best Friends, Better Together, Determined Danny, Dinner, Drinking, Drunk Sex, Drunken Kissing, Ex-Coworkers, F/M, Fade to Black, First Kiss, Flack Has A Crush, Foreplay, Friends to Lovers, Injured Flack, Inspired by Music, Kissing, Making Out, Male-Female Friendship, Morning After, Post Episode: s02e02 Grand Murder at Central Station, Rough Kissing, Sad Aiden, Sad Flack, Scratching, Secret Relationship, Surprise Kissing, Unzipping Dresses, late for work, running late, shared shower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-19
Updated: 2012-09-19
Packaged: 2017-11-14 14:02:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What are you supposed to do when you end up in bed with a friend? Leave?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Claw Marks

**Author's Note:**

> AU after "Grand Murder At Central Station"/"Zoo York," so all you need to know is Aiden still got fired and Lindsay still joined the team. This story has a long story behind it, but it evolved from two separate prompts and in the end boiled down to a scene suggestion involving Flack's back being covered in scratch marks from **dokunokasumi** along with the prompts " _black_ ," " _silver_ " and " _Devil_ " and him being in pain over it. **allstar12** and **mrstatertot** helped get me an MP3 of the song used in the fic so much thanks to them!

Funny how a petite brunette from Montana could make Danny forget that Aiden had been around.

Okay, Flack mused as he nursed his second beer of the night, maybe not funny. More like...he could understand. Lindsay was attractive, if you went for that type. He was a guy, and yeah. Guys understood that type of thing.

Didn't mean he had to like it.

Flack hadn't forgotten, though. He met up with Aiden at least once a week, usually at one of the bars in either his or her old neighborhood. Used to be Danny would be with them, but that was before he went gaga over Lindsay. Now it was just the two of them, and to be honest? That was fine with Flack, too, because there wasn't as much bickering between the two of them as there was between Aiden and Danny. Whether it was good natured or not, after a while it got annoying.

Tonight he was alone, though. Aiden had said something about a date. Apparently she had more of those since she left the labs and went into... He couldn't remember what she was doing right now. He did remember she was in school again, taking some psychology classes. Despite what most people said about him, he was smart. He understood what she talked about pretty well. Sometimes that was all they talked about.

"Hey, Flack. Your girl's here," Mike, the bartender said, cocking his head towards the door.

Flack looked over and watched Aiden walk in. Her hair was up, and she was wearing a short black strappy number and heels. He'd seen her look girly before, plenty of times, but she looked good regardless. "Thought you had a date."

"Thought I did too. Apparently, I've been stood up." She put her purse on the table next to his beer and he moved his hands away and she took the bottle and took a long drink from it. When she was finished, she sat in the tall chair next to him, crossing her legs in front of her. "I'll buy you another one later."

"Where were you supposed to go?" he asked, leaning back in his chair as best he could.

"Majorica." She shrugged. "He wasn't all that interesting anyway, but it was going to be a free dinner, you know?"

"You hungry?"

"Yeah."

Flack leaned forward and took the bottle out of her hands, finishing it. "Come on."

\---

Aiden smiled at him as she checked the menu again. "You know, this almost feels like a...date."

"It's not."

"Yeah. Mostly because you didn't ask."

"I asked if you were hungry."

"Which is not the same as asking a woman out on a date, Flack. No wonder you don't get laid that often." She smirked at him.

"Like your track record's been any better lately."

Flack smiled and shook his head. "You, Aiden, have the worst taste in men."

"Carol."

Flack cringed. Throwing his last ex-girlfriend's name back at him had been a low but effective blow. "You win."

"Knew I would." She looked around and shook her head. "Hey, hey. Truce?"

"Truce." He ate there quite often when he actually was out on dates so he knew exactly what to get, but he gave Aiden time to study the menu. "I'd recommend the scampi."

"Shrimp or chicken?"

"Both are pretty good." Aiden nodded, not lifting her eyes away from the menu. "So, where'd you meet the guy again?"

"Campus."

"In your class?"

"No, he was there for some event NYU had last week. He wasn't a student."

"So you probably won't be seeing him again."

"Yeah. Which sucks, because I'd love to give him a piece of my mind for making me wait for an hour. It may be warm during the day, but at night with this on?" she said, indicating her dress. "Cold."

"You should have taken a coat."

"Would have if I'd thought about it." She did look up this time, closing the menu and setting it aside. "Hey, Don...thanks. I felt stupid going into the bar tonight."

"Why? You know everyone stopped watching the game and started watching you. Don't tell me you didn't love the attention."

"I didn't. I was glad to get out of there, you know? And this place is pretty nice." She took a sip of the water that had been poured when they'd been seated. "You know, if I was on a date with you and you brought me here? You'd probably get an invite for drinks."

Flack leaned back and grinned at her. "Is that so."

"Yeah, that's so." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Don't be getting any ideas, though. This? This is definitely not a date."

\---

The night progressed at an easy pace. He filled her in on what he'd done in the past week, she did the same. They talked about the things they usually talked about, life in general, sports...didn't matter what it was, the conversation only lulled when one of them was eating.

When they finished eating, she suggested she buy him that beer she'd promised him. He'd had a long day at work, and all he really wanted to do was go home. But she looked as though this was important to her, so he agreed and they headed up to one of the nicer bars in her neighborhood.

He got the first round for both of them and brought it to the table they were sitting at. "Okay. Shot for you, beer for me, next round's on you," he said, nodding to what had become a tradition between them when they drank together.

She nodded, taking the shot glass that he'd set down and tossing back the contents. "How come you didn't get one?"

"I have work tomorrow, not class. I can't afford the hangover."

She gave him a sly grin. "One shot is not going to hurt you. I'll even promise not to make it tequila."

"With you, one shot becomes three. And then five, and then I spend the next morning sending death glares to everyone in my way." He knew he'd lost the argument, though. "Fine. One shot. Jack Daniels."

She nodded and headed to the bar as he watched. She looked good in that dress with her hair up. There wasn't a reason in the world he wouldn't just sit and stare for a while if he'd thought it wouldn't creep her out.

He'd had a thing for her for a long time. Never said anything, never did anything. He was not her type of guy and he knew it. No point in ruining something good by making it more complicated then it had to be.

He broke out of his thoughts when the smell of whiskey wafted up his nose. She was a few inches away, holding the shot glass up to his face. "One shot, one shot, next round...we'll see."

He took the shot glass and drained the contents. He was probably going to regret this in the morning, but it didn't matter. Tylenol was a wonderful thing for hangovers.

\---

He'd been right. One shot had become three, then five. His beer sat on the table, barely touched. Both of them could hold their liquor pretty well, though he could tell she was getting flushed after the third shot. He didn't start feeling the effects until the fourth.

By his fifth shot, he knew it was time to call it a night. Get her home, make sure she was okay and catch a cab back to his place to sleep off what he could before he had to get up in the morning and deal with both New York's finest and New York's worst.

She was a little tipsy. Normally they never went past four shots unless they needed to get drunk, like the night after Aiden had been fired. He'd stayed sober, more or less, but she'd hit six before he and Danny made her quit. He hadn't been able to make sure she got home the next night but Danny said she hadn't handled it well and he'd stayed for a few hours until he was sure she was asleep and not going to do anything stupid.

She'd had five tonight, but she seemed to be handling it better then she had that night. Maybe it was because she wasn't depressed, maybe she'd built up her tolerance. It could be because she'd eaten; the last time, she'd told them she hadn't really been hungry and just wanted to get shitfaced.

Didn't matter. Five shots had an effect on her, but it was something she wasn't really showing. He wouldn't have picked her up for public intoxication, but in any case, better not to chance it.

"Come on Aiden. Time to go home."

She nodded, not arguing. She followed him out and pointed towards her apartment two blocks over. "I need to get something from the bodega first, if that's all right."

"Not a problem. I'm going to need some more Tylenol anyway."

She smirked. "You've had more to drink then that before, Don. You aren't going to be hung over."

"Well, I'm still sore."

"That perp got you good, didn't he?" she asked. She pulled his jacket around her tighter, glad he had offered it to her.

"Yeah, but like I said, it’s nothing a warm shower and some Tylenol can't fix."

They continued to walk and she inched closer to him. He started to ask why she was so close all of a sudden when she spoke up again. "I miss being a cop."

He stopped, put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her as well. "You aren't depressed or anything, are you?"

"A little. Listening to you talk about the case and all. Not to mention getting stood up earlier. Not exactly conducive to a chipper attitude."

He took a good look at her. "That's why you wanted to drink?"

"No. I wanted to have drinks with you." She took a deep breath. "Can we hurry up? I know you've got on a long shirt and pants, but I'm _freezing_." She started to walk away, one or two steps ahead of him, but he made short work of the distance.

"I'm staying at your place tonight."

Aiden groaned slightly. "I am not as drunk as I was the last time I had this much to drink. I don't need you to stay and don't you need some sleep?"

"I worry about you, Aiden. Despite the fact you may think I don't need to."

She reached up and touched his face. He could smell her perfume and it wasn't subtle, but strong and spicy with a little bit of sweetness to it. Same things he'd say about Aiden, to be honest. "Fine. You can stay. But all that's going to happen is that your back's going to be killing you because you were on the couch."

She didn't take her hand away for a long moment, then brought it back to her and shoved it into his jacket pocket and kept walking. "Hurry up, Flack," she called out behind her. He shook his head and hurried up, closing the gap again.

\---

He'd been in her apartment before. It wasn't bad, a little on the bare side, but she wasn't one for unnecessary things. He looked around. "You moved things around."

"I got bored." She took off his jacket and laid it on the back of her chair. "So, you know, figured it was as good a time as any to make some changes." She tossed a grin back at him. "Look, there's some juice in the fridge if you want to take the Tylenol now. Or milk, but it's all up to you on what your stomach can take."

"Juice," he said. He knew where the glasses were and she left him alone in her kitchen to pour a glass for himself. He heard music start in her room and ignored it. Based on the few times he'd been over before, she turned on her stereo whether she had company over or not if she was in her room. It didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Hey, Flack? The zipper's stuck." She was back out in the kitchen area, one hand wrenched behind her back, trying to pull the zipper of her dress down.

"You keep pulling at it, Aiden, you're going to rip it." He set his glass down, not even having filled it up, then went towards her. She turned so he could get the zipper and waited.

He put one hand on her back and she grabbed his wrist to steady herself since she hadn't taken her heels off. Her skin felt warm beneath his hand. He tried to pull the zipper up, moving it maybe a quarter of an inch, and then pulled it down again. This time it slid down smoothly. He pulled it down to the bottom and the back of her dress opened up. He saw a strip of black lace below the small of her back and swallowed. Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea.

She hadn't let go of his wrist yet. Second time that night that she'd touched him and hadn't let go. She held onto his wrist as she took small step forward and turned. He decided to concentrate on something, anything, other then the look on her face, and that was when he realized the song playing from her room had changed. He recognized it.

_Got a big plan, this mindset maybe its right_  
At the right place and right time, maybe tonight  
And the whisper or handshake sending a sign  
Wanna make out and kiss hard, wait nevermind 

She stepped closer and kissed him, not letting go of his wrist until he placed his hand on her hip. It was as though something had burst forth, and the kiss deepened and got hungrier every second that it continued. His hands circled around until he was touching flesh again, able to get her closer.

That look she'd had on her face...she knew what she was doing. He was just going to follow her lead.

For the most part.

_Late night, and passing, mention it flipped her_  
Best friend, who knows saying maybe it slipped  
But the slip turns to terror and a crush to light  
When she walked in, he throws up, believe its the fright 

She pulled his shirt out from where it had been tucked in so she could feel his skin as well. She scratched him a little in the process ad it sent shivers down his spine. She pulled back and looked at him. "Take it you liked that?" she whispered in a husky voice.

"Yeah, I liked it."

_Its cute in a way, till you cannot speak_  
And you leave to have a cigarette, your knees get weak  
An escape is just a nod and a casual wave  
Obsessed about it, heavy for the next two days 

While she was away, she began to unbutton his shirt. She did it quickly, her fingers flying from his throat down to his waist, and as soon as it was unbuttoned he let go over her for a minute to get it off completely, leaving him wearing clothing from the waist down.

He pulled her back to him, covered her mouth with his again. She bit his lower lip lightly and he groaned. This wasn't how he'd imagined being with her would be.

It was better.

_It's only just a crush, it'll go away_  
It's just like all the others it'll go away  
Or maybe this is danger and you just don't know  
You pray it all away but it continues to grow 

He pushed the straps of her dress down off her shoulders and let it fall as mucha s it could with her pressed close to him. She moved back a little and the dress moved away from her breasts and stopped at her waist, leaving her bra exposed.

She fit nicely against him, and the flesh that touched was beginning to heat up. In synch the two started to move towards her bedroom.

_I want to hold you close_  
Skin pressed against me tight  
Lie still, and close your eyes girl  
So lovely, it feels so right  
I want to hold you close  
Soft breasts, beating heart  
As I whisper in your ear  
I want to fucking tear you apart 

She backed up into the wall, but that was fine with the both of them. He used the wall behind her to press closer, and in retaliation she reached her hands farther up his back, at first with palms flattened.

And then she scratched him, one long scratch that went from his shoulder blades straight down his spine. It hurt, just enough to tell him if she kept it up he was going to have marks, but not enough for him to want her to stop. He really did like it.

_Then he walked up and told her, thinking it'd passed_  
And they talked and looked away a lot, doing the dance  
Her hand brushed up against his, she left it there  
Told him how she felt and then they locked in a stare 

He moved back a little and let her step out of the dress. She did so with a movement so subtle that he wasn't sure it was off until one of his hands roamed lower and touched her thigh and he could feel flesh underneath his palm.

He wasn't completely sure he'd be able to make it to a bed if they kept up what they were doing, but rational thought left him as she raked his back with her nails again.

_They took a step back, thought about it, what should they do_  
Cause there’s always repercussions when you're dating in school  
But their lips met, and reservations started to pass  
Whether this was just an evening or a thing that would last 

"If you want to make it to the bedroom you should hold off on that," he said after he pulled back for a moment to catch his breath.

"Do I look like I care if we make it there or not?" she asked, taking deep breaths. Her face was flushed, her lips slightly bruised from the kissing. She wasn't glaring at him but there was a determined glint in her eyes. She moved one of her hands up and ran it through his hair, the other in the same area where his tattoo was on his shoulder. "I wish you hadn't cut it..." And then she leaned in and kissed his chest, her teeth nibbling slightly at the sensitive skin.

He reached up, pulled the clip out of her hair and let it fall down to her shoulders. He could feel her hair fall on his chest and her fingers make their way back up his back again. 

_Either way he wanted her and this was bad_  
He wanted to do things to her it was making him crazy  
Now a little crush turned into a like  
And now he wants to grab her by the hair and tell her 

One more long scratch, and he was done for. He pushed her back a bit, pushed her flush up against the wall and kissed her hard. She put her arms around his neck and he started to move his lips from her mouth down her jaw line to her neck. Two could play at this game, he thought as he gently bit her neck.

This time her nails dug into his shoulders but he didn't care. This was worth the pain and any marks this would leave.

_I want to hold you close_  
Skin pressed against me tight  
Lie still, and close your eyes girl  
So lovely, it feels so right  
I want to hold you close  
Soft breasts, beating heart  
As I whisper in your ear  
I want to fucking tear you apart 

She pulled her hands away from his neck following the silver chain that his cross was on after she unhooked her nails from his skin, and she let her fingers trail down his chest until she reached the top of his pants. He moved his mouth back up against her, his hands covering hers. He stilled them and kissed her for a moment, then pulled back again.

"If we're going to do this it is not going to be up against a wall," he growled softly. 

"Then let's at least attempt to make it to the bed."

_I want to hold you close_  
Skin pressed against me tight  
Lie still, and close your eyes girl  
So lovely, it feels so right  
I want to hold you close  
Soft breasts, beating heart  
As I whisper in your ear  
I want to fucking tear you apart 

He picked her up as soon as he backed away enough to do so. She'd never been carried to her bed before, and she liked the feeling of his warm arms around her, his flesh against hers, the slight sheen of sweat that they both had making his skin incredibly smooth.

She nipped at his neck some more and it was all he could do to put one foot in front of the other until they got to her bedroom. This was going to be one hell of a night, and that was the last thing he thought for quite a while that night.

_I want to hold you close_  
Skin pressed against me tight  
Lie still, and close your eyes girl  
So lovely, it feels so right  
I want to hold you close  
Soft breasts, beating heart  
As I whisper in your ear  
I want to fucking tear you apart 

\---

He woke up the next morning naked in a bed he knew wasn't his. Oh, he knew who's bed it was; he hadn't been that drunk the night before. He started to turn over to look at Aiden and then winced. God, his back _hurt_.

Gingerly he turned over and saw her sound asleep, sheets tangled around her and her hair splayed out on the pillow. He reached over and pushed a lock of hair off her face. When he did that, though, he managed to catch a glimpse at his watch.

He was going to be late.

"Shit," he muttered, and that small utterance brought Aiden out of what he assumed had been a light sleep.

"What's wrong?" she asked sleepily.

"Late for work. Or I will be if I don't get moving."

"Call in sick, Flack."

He was tempted. He was very very tempted. But... "I can't. I had yesterday off, remember?"

Aiden lifted her head off her pillow and looked at him. "Well, can you be late?"

"How late?"

"I don't know, how late do you think you can be without Mac going on the warpath?"

"An hour, maybe."

"Well, take a shower and then head to your place and change."

"You don't want to...?"

"Who said I was going to let you shower by yourself?" she answered with an arch smile.

He returned her smile with a rather devilish grin. "Be careful of my back, though. You scratched me up but good."

"Which time?" She sat up on the bed, leaning over and looking at his back. "Damn... _I_ did that?"

"How bad is it?"

"Bad. I mean, I think I see blood. I didn't realize I did that to you. After the shower I'll put some ointment on it. Maybe that'll help."

He shrugged slightly, then winced again. "So long as no one touches my back too hard I'll be fine. But..."

"But what?"

"Wait till that set heals before you do it again."

\---

He was more than an hour late. More like two hours. He'd called Mac before heading into the shower, though, so there weren't many repurcussions for the longer delay. Hell, if he'd known it wouldn't be that big a deal he'd have spent a little more time in the shower... He grinned at the thought and came so very close to whistling. Nothing could ruin his mood.

He felt a hand clap his shoulder roughly. "That fucking hurt!" he said before he saw who was attached to the hand.

"Sorry, sorry," Danny said, taking his hand off. He gave him a classic Danny grin, cocky and wolfish. "I take it you had some fun last night?"

"Yeah," Flack said. Apparently, _this_ could put a damper on his good mood.

"Who was the lucky woman? Anyone I know?" He just glared at Danny. "So it _was_ someone I know."

"Go away, Messer."

Flack had gotten in one too many digs at Danny for the CSI to let this go lightly. "Let's see...I know you had the whole day off. Meet up in the park? Go out for a nice dinner? Find out she had claws for nails?"

Flack looked in front of him and saw Lindsay standing there. "You don't want me to mention certain things you've told me when you were really drunk in front of a certain brunette, Danny, right? Because if you don't? I'd drop this right now," he said in a quiet voice.

Danny held up his hands in surrender. "You win. But don't think I'm going to stop trying to guess."

"Oh, I wouldn't put it past you." He clapped his hand on Danny's shoulder and grabbed tightly, enjoying the sight of Danny wincing. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a job to go do."

He let go and sailed off past Lindsay, who came over to Danny with a puzzled look on her face, a look that got even more confused when she saw Danny shaking his head. "What was that all about?"

Danny laughed, just a little. "Guy stuff." He put his arm around Lindsay's shoulders. "Come on, we got a case to crack."


End file.
